Objective To survey the sanitary condition of drinking water and the occurrence and distribution of waterborne diseases in rural areas of Zibo City, in order to evaluate the safety of drinking water.
Methods We set up 768 monitoring spots covering the rural areas of Zibo City to collect finished water and tap water samples at a predetermined time interval from 2008 through 2012 and evaluate the quality of water according to the Standards for Drinking Water Quality (GB5749-2006). Based on the databases of the National Endemic Fluorosis Project and the China Information System for Diseases Control and Prevention, the distribution of endemic fluorosis, positive rate of dental fluorosis, incidence rate of water-borne diseases were estimated.
Results The overall qualified rate of drinking water in rural areas was 52.08% for 2008-2011. Low endemic fluorosis was identified in the areas. The prevalence rate of dental fluorosis of children at 8-12 years of age was 15.08% for 2012 and the dental fluorosis index was 0.21. The incidence of five selected common water-borne diseases in 2012 was 27.8/105, fell by 50.1% compared to that in 2006 of 55.7/105.
Conclusion The qualified rate of drinking water in the rural areas of Zibo is low in general, but shows improvement year by year.
DownLoad: